Two of my favourite ways to spend a rainy day off are wandering around the vintage shops in Manchester’s Northern Quarter or hiding away in my flat with lots of coffee and a book. Books and vintage clothes are probably my two biggest loves in life, along with music and food of course! I definitely have a hoarding addiction which I think I’ve inherited from both my mum and grandma! My Gran always had endless bookcases around the house filled with dusty volumes of Shakespeare, and she also lived across the road from an old lady who had her own library in her dining room. You could climb up a ladder to all the neatly stacked books and there was even the added bonus of a vintage arm chair. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing in the world to be surrounded by so many books and there was always something oddly comforting about it.

I’d often rummage through them all and ask to take piles home with me – I think this is where my love for Literature stemmed from, along with being a hopeless romantic whose a sucker for pretty words! I’m often inspired by characters in books or films, and I can usually recall these obsessions when looking back at old pictures. For instance, there’s still always at least one month out of the year that I dress like Wednesday Addams and if I’ve been listening to Bowie then I automatically want to wear something silver or star patterned.

However, I’d say the majority of my inspiration comes from French icons like Jane Birkin, Serge Gainsbourg and Francoise Hardy. I find the French style so effortlessly put together and the women never seem to look restricted by their ensembles. The French completely nail the perfect balance between masculine and feminine and that’s my style all over. I’ve loved masculine clothing for as long as I can remember and I don’t believe you have to dress in a traditionally girly manner in order to be considered sexy or feminine…

Alice x

Leather jacket & Skirt – Cow Manchester

Glasses – Vintage (similar here)